Poverty in Romania during 1918-1945

Mariana Stanciu; Adina Mihailescu

Mariana Stanciu Senior Researcher at The Research Institute for Quality of Life, Romanian Academy
Adina Mihailescu Senior Researcher at The Research Institute for Quality of Life, Romanian Academy

Keywords: social structure, land reform, property, food consumption, German occupation

Abstract

The study presents the social status of the population in Romania, highlighting the dimensions of poverty between 1918 and 1945 in the European context. Data and information for the survey were taken from a series of publications of statistical institutions of the time, as well as from the works of interbelic and contemporary economists and sociologists. Dominant rural dimensions of poverty are discussed in relation to the effects of agrarian reforms of the time. A series of indicators of urbanization and modernization of Romanian society are also presented. The study contains a brief analysis of the manifestation of poverty during the Second World War (1941-1945), including the effect of successive occupation of the country by the German and by the Soviet army.